Toshiba sues Moser Baer, Imation, others over DVD patents

MUMBAI: Japan’s Toshiba Corp has sued India’s optical storage disc major Moser Baer India along with Imation Corp and several other recordable DVD manufacturers and distributors for infringing its patents.

The other defendants are CMC Magnetics Corp and Ritek Corp of Taiwan, and Glyphics Media, Hotan Corp, Khypermedia Corp and Advanced Media Inc in the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, says Imation and the other companies do not have licensing agreements with Toshiba for patents that are essential for meeting DVD format specifications.

Toshiba is seeking monetary damages and also an injunction to prohibit production, import, sales or other disposal or use of the named products in the US.

Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, Moser Baer India’s official spokesperson says, "We have just heard about this from various reports over the internet. It is too early to say the course of action that will be taken as of now from our end."

The infringement of Toshiba’s patents by these companies, has negatively affected Toshiba’s business, and also caused damage to the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution business as a whole. Through the filing of the lawsuit, Toshiba seeks to recover monetary damages, prevent future infringement, and/or secure agreements to respect Toshiba’s intellectual property rights in the future.

According to Toshiba, the DVD media are sold under the Imation and Memorex brand names in the US.